Insurance policies, such as automotive insurance policies, typically specify, among other things, a premium and a deductible. The premium is an amount of money a policy holder pays on a regular basis (e.g., monthly) to maintain the insurance policy. The deductible is the amount of money a policy holder is responsible for paying for any given claim before an insurance company takes responsibility to cover the remaining amount of the claim. Premiums and deductibles may be different for different policy holders and different insurance companies may offer the same person different premiums and deductibles. Premiums and deductibles may be determined by a variety of factors, including demographic information and geographic information. Premiums and deductibles may also be based on a policy holder's past claims. For example, a policy holder who has submitted numerous insurance claims may have a higher premium and/or deductible than a policy holder who has not made any insurance claims.
In some cases, a premium and deductible for a specific policy holder may change over time. For example, the premium and deductible for a specific policy holder may rise because of inflation or a cost in automotive repairs. In contrast, the premium and deductible for a specific policy holder may fall because the policy holder has maintained a safe driving record over some period of time (e.g., has not been involved in an accident for five years). Knowing that their driving record may affect their premiums and deductibles, some policy holders may alter their driving behavior to avoid automotive accidents. However, some policy holders doubt that changing their driving behavior will reduce the likelihood of being in an automotive accident and some policy holders doubt that they will ever receive a decrease in their insurance premium and/or deductible even if they are not involved in an accident. Thus, promises to reduce premiums and deductibles of those who avoid accidents will not persuade some policy holders to improve their driving behavior.
Generally, insurance companies, like most companies, are interested in keeping costs down. For automotive insurance companies, costs may be incurred when customers are involved in accidents. Therefore, automotive insurance companies may be interested in reducing the likelihood of automotive accidents. As such, an automotive insurance company may be interested in incentivizing its customers (e.g., policy holders) to drive safely.
Accordingly, new systems, devices, methodologies, and software are desired to adjust insurance deductibles on-the-fly while policy holders are driving to incentivize them to drive safely.